(20
– 26 July 2002)
The
first batch of 14 humanitarian supply contracts, worth over $7.62 million,
that had been previously placed on hold by the Security Council’s 661
sanctions committee, were approved last week following their re-assessment in
accordance with paragraph 18 of the new procedures for the review and
processing of contracts under Security Council resolution 1409 (2002). The
full implementation of the new procedures began on 15 July. An assessment of
these contracts by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found no
Goods Review List (GRL) items and, as a result, the contracts were classified
as “approved by the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP approved)”.
Paragraph
18 of the new set of procedures under resolution 1409 (2002) divides contracts
on hold into two categories. The first category comprises contracts that
contain “dual use” item(s), as determined by the United Nations
Secretariat experts, which are returned to the submitting Mission or United
Nations agency for possible re-submission under the new procedures. The second
category includes all other contracts on hold which are re-circulated by OIP
under the new procedures. The
re-circulation of contracts on hold in the second category is expected to be
completed by mid-September. It is
foreseen that with the end of this process, there will no longer be contracts
on hold. There are now 2,141
contracts, worth over $5.39 billion, that had been placed on hold by the 661
Committee, of which 1,480 contracts, valued at about $4.6 billion, are for
humanitarian supplies and 661 contracts, worth $774 million, are for oil
industry equipment.
In
terms of Iraqi oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food programme
during the week in review, the total volume reached 8 million barrels, down
from the previous week’s total of 9.8 million barrels.
In all there were seven loadings, three of which were from Mina al-Bakr
terminal, with 3.2 million barrels of oil, and four loadings from Ceyhan
terminal, with 4.8 million barrels. With the price of Iraqi crude oil
averaging approximately €23.60 (euros) or $23.60 per barrel, the week’s
exports netted an estimated €188 million or $189 million in revenue,
bringing the overall estimated revenue in current phase XII of the programme
to over €1.38 billion or $1.39 billion.
The
United Nations oil overseers approved six new oil purchase contracts, raising
their total to 137, covering 289 million barrels of oil. So far in phase XII,
which runs from 30 May to 25 November 2002, Iraq has shipped almost 59 million
barrels of oil.
Since
the start of the programme on 10 December 1996, Iraqi oil exports of some 3.1
billion barrels have generated an estimated revenue of $38.6 billion and
€18.9 billion ($17 billion). The
humanitarian programme receives 72 per cent of the oil proceeds, with 59 per
cent allocated to the 15 central and southern governorates and 13 per cent to
the three northern governorates. To
date, almost $36 billion worth of contracts for the purchase of humanitarian
supplies and equipment have been approved by the 661 Committee and OIP,
including about $3.3 billion worth of oil industry spare parts and equipment.
Supplies and equipment worth $23.6 billion have been delivered to Iraq,
including $1.4 billion worth oil spare parts and equipment. An additional
$10.2 billion worth of supplies and equipment are in the production and
delivery pipeline, including $1.8 billion worth of oil industry equipment.
With
a persisting revenue shortfall, 1,001 humanitarian supply contracts, worth
over $2.08 billion, are still awaiting funding, although already approved by
the United Nations. The
sectors affected by the lack of funds are:
electricity with $352 million; food handling with $323 million; food
with $299 million; housing with $286 million; agriculture with $272 million;
telecommunication and transportation with $157 million; health with $144
million; water and sanitation with $143 million and; education with $104
million.
